Fulton Elementary volunteer plucks a Golden Apple

Photo by Doug Kapustin, Baltimore Sun

State Comptroller Peter Franchot stopped at Fulton Elementary School on March 21 to present the Howard County Golden Apple award to longtime volunteer Lisa Schlossnagle. She is being honored for her work aiding teachers in the classroom, providing tutoring for students and serving as a PTA leader.

State Comptroller Peter Franchot stopped at Fulton Elementary School on March 21 to present the Howard County Golden Apple award to longtime volunteer Lisa Schlossnagle. She is being honored for her work aiding teachers in the classroom, providing tutoring for students and serving as a PTA leader. (Photo by Doug Kapustin, Baltimore Sun)

Katie V. Jones, For The Baltimore Sun

Lisa Schlossnagle is accustomed to giving her time to Fulton Elementary School.

As a parent and volunteer, she spends time aiding teachers in her daughters' classrooms, representing the school as its PTA delegate, and attending countywide meetings report on issues facing the school system.

She has taken roles at the classroom level, including as a tutor for the A-OK (Assist Our Kids) program, and at the systemwide level as a representative on the committee that worked on redistricting proposals last year.

This week, though, Schlossnagle was on the receiving end for a change.

On Thursday, in a school gym filled with cheering elementary students — including her three daughters in kindergarten and second and fourth grades — Schlossnagle was honored with a Golden Apple award from Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot in recognition of the time and talent she has devoted to the school.

"Volunteers like Lisa Schlossnagle are going to be in high demand," Franchot said before the assembly. "They are the unsung heroes. This is a small recognition for them and their peers."

The Golden Apple award recognizes individuals and organizations who volunteer to benefit education in Maryland. Franchot, who began offering the award this school year, said volunteers such as Schlossnagle are "a huge help to the school systems across the state."

Fulton Principal Karen Moore-Roby called Schlossnagle "a wonderful volunteer" and praised her involvement over the years as her children have risen through the grades.

For her part, Schlossnagle said the county's school system makes it easy, and rewarding, to give of her time.

"Howard County is just a place full of people who volunteer," she said. "I'm grateful we can raise our family here in such a great community.

"We have so many parents, grandparents and community members who make Fulton a wonderful place to go to school," Schlossnagle said.

She said the honor was "kind of a surprise" and told the students that she was "beyond honored and humbled" by the award.

Christine Feldmann, deputy director of the comptroller's office, said Franchot visits many schools in his role as comptroller and as a member of the state Board of Public Works. He started the Golden Apple award, she said, to recognize some of the good work he sees.

"He realized that successful schools had great volunteers," said Feldmann, who added that the awards have honored "everybody from parents to grandparents to people who have no direct connection — churches and nonprofits. It has been a nice cross-section of people."

Franchot presents the award to one person or organization in each county, she said.

"He believes it is part of his responsibility," Feldmann said. "He wants to take the pulse of what is happening and recognize volunteers."